


Souyowrimo Prompts

by lod



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Souyowrimo 2018
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-16 19:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16501496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lod/pseuds/lod
Summary: I don't know how many ofthese promptsI'll be doing, because I also have plans to start on a longer story with these two, but those I do write will go here :)





	1. a holiday

The kitchen counter was covered in ingredients, with three different kinds of chocolates, colorings, powders, cream and spices taking up all the available space. Yu was chopping up milk chocolate while the water baths heated up on the stove. Next to him, Nanako was weighing out white chocolate into a bowl, glaring at the bowl like it was the one at fault for the current situation.

“Here you go,” she said as she handed Yu the bowl, trying to hide her annoyed expression. “But, big bro, isn’t that a lot?”

“Well, I have to make some for all of my friends, and then you wanted some for your friends as well, right?”

Nanako tapped her foot and pursed her lips, causing Yu to look concerned and kneel down to her level, bowl still in hand.

“Is something wrong, Nanako? You don’t have to bring any to school if you don’t want to, you know.”

Nanako shook her head. “No! That’s not it!”

“What is it, then?”

“You’re being a coward, big bro!” she burst out.

She knew she wasn’t being very nice right now, but the twinge of guilt she felt at telling off her beloved brother was shoved aside by her exasperation.He was being _very_ stupid right now.

“You shouldn’t be giving everyone chocolates when there’s a person you like! You should give _him_ chocolates only. Otherwise he won’t understand!”

Yu’s mouth dropped open and the bowl he’d been holding fell to the floor, scattering chocolate all over the kitchen, but he didn’t move to clean it up, staring at her.

“The… the person I … who?” he asked in a shocked, distant voice.

Nanako looked at him in disbelief.

“Yosuke?”

Yu made a small noise like a balloon being stepped on, or perhaps a dying rat, and Nanako re-evaluated the situation.

“You look so happy when you look at him. You make the same face as when you’re petting the kitties outside, and you don’t make that face for anyone else. Doesn’t that mean you like him?”

Yu ran a hand over his face, looking kind of like Dad when he was having a hard time with work. Nanako bit her lip.

“Sorry, I thought—”

“No, Nanako, you’re right. It does. I just didn’t know I was doing that. Oh no,” he exclaimed, “does that mean everyone else knows? Does _he_ know?!”

“I don’t think so. He looks at you like…” Nanako tried to think of the right explanation. “Oh! He looks at you like you’re the new Detective Loveline toy that he really wants, but you’re too expensive so he can only look but he can’t have you.” Nanako nodded, proud of her analogy, while Yu choked on absolutely nothing.

“ _Does he?_ ”

Nanako had some additional confirmation about Yosuke’s feelings, courtesy of his tendency to speak in his sleep and a certain blond boy’s tendency to tell Nanako everything, but she figured she shouldn’t tell Yu that herself.

Yu still looked a bit shell-shocked, so she started picking up the chocolate he’d dropped. After a few moments, he joined her, and when they were done and the floor had been swept clean, Yu seemed a bit more like himself.

“I’ll tell you what, Nanako. How about we still make chocolates for everyone, but make some extra special ones for Yosuke? And maybe… maybe I’ll tell him how I feel.”

“Ok, big bro!” Nanako replied excitedly, and reached into the cupboard to pull out the musical note-shaped mold she’d gotten at Junes earlier just for this. Yu seemed like he wanted to ask something, but then shook his head and took it from her, smiling.

“Let’s do orange and red for him. And no extra spices, I think he’s had enough strange spicy foods for a lifetime.”

Nanako got to work measuring out a new bowl of chocolate, and the rest of the evening passed happily with her big bro by her side. The chocolates they made for everyone were cute little cat-shaped ones with glitter, and the musical notes for Yosuke came out perfect. She just hoped Teddie had as much success with his side of the plan...


	2. glasses

Yosuke slid the glasses onto his face, looking at himself in the mirror. It felt odd, looking at his reflection, and for a moment he blamed the suddenly crisp outlines — he really should have started wearing them earlier — but his eyes adapted and the feeling remained, until it suddenly clicked in his mind. He huffed in amusement as he turned this way and that, checking different angles, but there was no denying it. Even though he hadn’t remotely had that thought in mind when he’d picked them out, he had ended up with a near-exact replica of the glasses Teddie had made him so many years ago. They were only missing the distinctive bands of color on the arms.

He wondered idly where those glasses were now; he hadn’t seen them in years. In a box at the back of his closet, he supposed. They didn’t serve any purpose now, hadn’t since that fateful spring day when they’d saved Inaba, and maybe the world. He shook his head, smiling a bit at how silly the thought seemed.

Nowadays he rarely thought about those times; they’d been crazy, and exciting, but they were so distant and he was starting to forget. What had been the name of Chie's overpowered attack near the end? What color had Ameno-Sagiri’s eye been? And he, himself, had changed so much since then. Could he even do the flip he used to do 10, 20, 50 times per outing as he summoned his Persona? He doubted it.

His thoughts drifted to the one boy who’d been at the center of it all back then, Yu Narukami. His erstwhile best friend. They’d kept in touch at first, chatting online everyday, sending photos and calling late into the night. But life had a strange way of moving forward, and with time daily exchanges had become weekly, then monthly. Now, almost ten years later, they mostly contacted each other on birthdays and christmases, with well wishes and life updates — aced my exams, met a girl, broke up with that girl, found a job, got that promotion I was telling you about last Christmas, think I might finally be able to buy an apartment…

On a whim, he snapped a picture of the glasses.

 **Yosuke**  
Remind you of something, Partner?

He put the phone down, and headed off to make breakfast and get ready for his workday, enjoying being able to read the subtitles on the TV from the kitchen, until his head started hurting. The optician had warned him that might happen, but it didn’t make it any better. He thought with a smile that it was a bit of the opposite of the TV world; there, they’d gotten headaches if they didn’t wear glasses, and here he was getting one because he did.

Fifteen minutes later, he was grabbing his phone to head out. The message he’d sent to Yu appeared when he unlocked it, still marked unseen. He smiled sadly as he slipped the phone into his pocket; he hadn’t expected an answer, but he remembered a time when they’d always answered each other within the minute, their friendship the most important thing to them. It wasn’t that it was wrong, the way things were now; people moved on, moved apart, and that was ok. Yosuke had new friends, had made and lost and remade friends many times in the decade since he’d graduated high school, and Yu probably had, too. It was ok, and it was normal, and it was heartbreakingly sad and for just a moment Yosuke felt his eyes burning behind the glasses.

Taking a deep breath, he swallowed the emotions he rarely allowed himself to dwell on and hurried out the door, mindful of the time. The twinge of nostalgia stayed with him all day, like background noise, a whisper of sadness just off the edge of consciousness, tinting everything in muted regret.

That was ok, too. That was one of the open secrets of adulthood that no one told you until you got there; everyone was a little bit sad all the time. It was normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> not explicitly souyo here, sorry!


	3. morning

Yosuke usually emerges from sleep like a sea lion might emerge from the ocean, clumsily dragging his body from its serene depths. He hates waking up, and today is no exception. It’s too early, the light is too bright, the alarm clock too loud, and he rolls over with his eyes still shut to hit the snooze button with an open hand.

The fog of sleep vanishes when his hand meets flesh with a resounding smack instead of hard plastic. A sleepy, hurt voice calls out, “Yosuke??”

It’s at that moment he realises that there’s no alarm clock ringing, only sunlight streaming through their less-than-opaque tent, and oh god he just slapped Yu across the face. He shoves himself out from under his blankets, hands flying to cup Yu’s cheek, mortified when he realises his handprint is clearly visible across it.

“Shit, Partner, I’m so sorry!”

Yu’s eyes flutter open and barely manage to focus on him. “You hit me?” he asks, sleepy confusion slurring his words.

“I thought you were my alarm clock,” he replies sheepishly, running soothing fingers gently over the reddened cheek. Yu’s hand drifts up to rest on his, stilling its motions, and Yosuke’s heart starts beating faster for some reason. “I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

Yu shakes his head a bit, mumbling, “s’ok” before turning into their joined hands and rubbing his nose softly into Yosuke’s palm. It sends a bolt of lightning racing up his arm clear to his heart, and before he can analyze the movement he’s freeing his other hand to brush Yu’s messy bangs back into place. It’s surprisingly cute seeing Yu like this; he’s usually so in control, but apparently mornings are his weakness too. Yosuke can’t believe it’s taken months for him to see this.

After a few warm, comfortable minutes pass, Yosuke’s thoughts manage to finally catch up to the current situation and he tries to tug his hand away, abruptly much-too-aware of how far this has progressed from his original intent to soothe away the pain from his accidental slap. Yu doesn’t seem to appreciate that idea, though, his hand tightening around Yosuke’s despite his still-drowsy face.

“What’s up, Partner?” There’s no reply. “Yu?” he tries again, and this time when Yu’s eyes open they’re much sharper, as though he’s not quite near as asleep as he looks. His hand frees Yosuke’s and reaches up to grab at his shoulder instead, tugging him forward.

“Sleep,” he says with the strong note of command in his voice that’s generally reserved for battle tactics.

“Sure, just let me get back into my be—”

Yu pulls him forward again, hard enough to send him face-planting onto his chest. “Sleep,” he repeats, his voice brooking no opposition.

Yosuke reaches up to rub at his chin where it collided with Yu’s shoulder. Part of him is shouting to move away, that this is a bit much even for best friends, but he’s still exhausted from the previous day’s mishaps and it’s hard to resist the urge to let himself melt into Yu’s warm body. When Yu reaches his arm around him, pulling him under his blanket and gripping his waist, he knows he’s lost this fight. He lets his hand drift up to wrap around the side of Yu’s face, nuzzles his face into his neck, and is asleep before he can even consider what it means that this is the most relaxed he’s felt in months.

The next time he wakes up, it’s to two high pitched voices, one giggling helplessly while the other shouts some overly loud exclamation or other. He places them quickly as being Chie and Yukiko, who spent the night in their tent following Kanji’s intrusion into theirs. It takes him another few seconds to realise what the heavy weight around his waist is, and when he does he jumps out of the blanket with a screech and a frantic explanation that it’s not what it looks like, it’s really not, until he finally realises he’s got three dubious faces staring at him and runs out of the tent to escape their judgmental eyes.

He never does live down the teasing from the sleeping incident (and how unfair is it that he’s the one taking the heat for it when it was all Yu’s fault?), but when he finds himself snuggled against Yu’s back in his futon at a sleepover a couple weeks later, every bit of stress and tightness in his body melting away like ice in hot water, he thinks maybe some teasing isn’t a terrible price to pay for such a nice outcome...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some fluff after yesterday's sads ;)


	4. clothes swap

“Can you entertain yourself for 30 minutes? I have to go put Nanako to bed and read her a story,” Yu said, stretching as he stood.

“You got it, Partner,” Yosuke replied with a smile.

It was their usual routine; Yosuke would come over after his shift at Junes finished, they’d have dinner with Nanako, “study” together while Nanako watched her quiz show (the amount of studying tended to vary depending on Yosuke’s motivation; sometimes Yu just gave in and they spent the evening on his console), then he’d put Nanako to bed, and they’d spend another hour together before Yosuke rode his deathtrap of a bike home. Usually, Yu would return to find Yosuke sprawled out on his couch, reading manga or listening to music on his phone.

Not this time.

He did a double take when he walked through the door, not expecting to see Yosuke standing in the middle of the room, clearly waiting for him. And… wearing his clothes?

“Yosuke, what are you —”

“Who’s Yosuke?” he said in a falsely deep voice. “I’m Yu Narukami, transfer student extraordinaire!”

Yu shook his head, trying to understand what was going on. Something seemed weird about Yosuke’s face, and it took him a moment to realise he’d brushed his bangs out over his forehead in a cheap imitation of Yu’s own bowlcut hairdo. Was that deep voice supposed to be _his_ voice?

Yosuke was walking across the room with one hand in his pocket now, causing Yu to blush as he realised how pretentious he must look when he did that. “What was that, Yukiko? You want to go out with me? Take a ticket, there’s a line. Everyone in Inaba wants a piece of this!”

Yu stifled a laugh. That wasn’t even remotely true. There was that one somewhat scary nurse, sure, and a handful of girls at school, but even if Inaba was a small town that was far from being _everyone_. Seemed ironic of Yosuke to be saying that, he thought, considering who he _actually_ was interested in, but he knew better than to think too much about that while his best friend was around. That way laid troublesome blushes, and uncomfortable discussions about his taste in girls that he hadn’t yet managed to be honest about.

“What was that, Ms. Sofue? The name of the fourth pharaoh of the third dynasty’s third cousin twice removed? Of course I know it. I know everything!”

“Is that what you think I sound like?” Yu asked, halfway between scandalized and entertained.

“Rumor has it I’ve even managed to finish the rainy day challenge at Aiya’s!”

Yu finally gave in, laughing outright as he grabbed Yosuke’s red jacket and headphones where they laid on his couch and slipped them on. He ran his hands up through his bangs, parting his hair to the side, then crossed his arms and flashed one of Yosuke’s trademark grins.

“Hey, _Partner_ ,” he called back in Yosuke’s sunny voice, accentuating the nickname he always used for him. “So where do you keep the goods? Wanna talk about nurses? Idols, am I rig—”

He was interrupted by a cushion smacking into the back of his head. Turning, he found Yosuke glaring at him, the effect somewhat ruined by the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Yu bent down to grab his wastebasket — which he’d emptied that morning — and put it on his head. It was a bit bigger than he’d bargained for, dropping over his eyes, but that made it even more fitting.

“Help! I’m stuck!”

“Oh that is _it_ ,” Yosuke called, laughing, and a moment later he was tackled into the couch, the wastebasket flying off as he fell onto it. “I do not sound like that!”

Yosuke’s weight was on him, pinning him to the cushions, his warm hands against the backrest framing his face. When their eyes caught, Yu found his snarky reply losing itself somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind, cancelled out by every one of his senses going into overdrive at Yosuke’s proximity — at the sound of his slightly strained breathing, the touch of his hair where it brushed against his cheek, the smell of his shampoo. He froze, unable to do more than blink as the amusement faded from Yosuke’s face, replaced by confusion and then, slowly, concern.

“Is something—”

Nope. Nope, nope, nope, he had no easy lie prepared, he needed to distract Yosuke somehow — the solution came to him, and he pounced on it as gratefully as he pounced on the boy in question, sliding his fingers underneath his shirt and pinching his sides.

“Ahhh!” Yosuke’s squeal was loud, way too loud considering Nanako was supposed to be sleeping. Yu freed up a hand to slap it across his friend’s mouth, the other continuing to tickle him. Yosuke squirmed until he managed to free himself. As soon as he was up, he grabbed the cushion he’d used earlier, smacking wildly at Yu.

They went back and forth, roughhousing across the floor of Yu’s room like a couple of kids and laughing so hard it was a miracle Nanako hadn’t come upstairs to ask what was going on. When at last they ran out of energy, they leaned back on the floor against Yu’s folded up futon to catch their breath, every glance at each other setting off a new spurt of giggles.

They finally managed to calm down, Yosuke’s head dropping heavily back onto the bed. “Let’s not go to the TV world tomorrow, Partner. I think I need a day off after this,” he said as he stared at the ceiling. Yu laughed and agreed.

“Probably time for me to head home, huh?” he said as he stood, reaching a hand down to Yu.

He was walking towards the bedroom door when Yu cleared his throat meaningfully.

“What’s up?”

“Do you… maybe want to change back into your own clothes?” he asked pointedly.

“Oh! Crap, sorry, I forgot! And I totally got your shirt all sweaty…”

Yu waved the apology away. “You should try wearing collared shirts sometimes. It looks good on you,” he said, forgetting for a moment how Yosuke always reacted to personal praise. To his surprise, though, he didn’t try to dismiss the compliment, but instead looked Yu up and down.

“And you should try wearing more casual clothing. I like it,” he said, leaving Yu to flame as red as the coat he hurriedly shrugged out of.

They got their clothing and possessions back in order without further incident, and Yu saw Yosuke out, waiting for his customary “home safe, gnight prtnr” text before laying down to bed himself. Despite his exhaustion, though, sleep was elusive; he couldn’t seem to stop replaying Yosuke’s words in his head. Not “it looks good,” or even “ _you_ look good.” “I like it,” he’d said, and try as he might Yu couldn’t stop his overhopeful heart from reading a thousand words of subtext in that short phrase.


	5. after school

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By popular request, a follow up to day 1 (holiday). Please read that one first. There'll be one more scene in this short little story at some point!

Yosuke had it all planned out. From where he’d get the chocolates (little store in Okina city about 20 minutes from the train station, far enough away that he probably wouldn’t run into anyone), to how he’d give them (hide them in his locker, ask to go to the bathroom during class and switch them once he’d made triple-certain no one was around), to what he’d do with them when he inevitably chickened out (give them to his mom and earn some good-son points, it was never a bad idea to stock up on those).

That, however, had been without accounting for a certain terribly obnoxious self-proclaimed sibling with a tendency to meddle in everything.

His true mistake had been stopping back at home after his Junes shift to change before heading out, where Teddie had been waiting for him in their shared room, sprawled out on Yosuke’s futon — didn’t he have his own?! — holding a magazine no one should ever have let him buy.

“Yosuke! Look, tomorrow is Valentine’s day!” he exclaimed, pointing out the cover of the magazine.

Damn it. By some miracle, the bear hadn’t seemed to know about this holiday, and Yosuke had managed to convince him that all the chocolates and teddy bears being sold at Junes were just because people got sad in winter, so they sold happy things. He’d only needed _one_ more day! Now he’d have to spend all of the next day doing damage control from whatever ridiculous scheme the magazine and Teddie’s imagination combined managed to cook up. He should probably text the girls right now and give them a heads up.

“It’s your chance for a bear-y romantic confession!”

Yosuke squinted at Teddie. “Yeah, I dunno if you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly the most popular guy in school. I’m not gonna go confess to someone who hates my guts, and that’s pretty much everyone.”

To be fair, the one person he had something to confess to didn’t hate his guts, but that hardly made it better. Being rejected by someone who hated him was one thing, but to be rejected by his partner… well, he couldn’t think of a more painful thing to imagine, and that was speaking as someone who’d been zapped, frozen, slashed and burnt to literal death multiple times.

“That’s not true,” Teddie insisted. “The team doesn’t hate you!”

“Hate to break it to you but you’re supposed to confess to someone you’re in love with, not just someone who doesn’t hate you,” he replied with apprehension. This was getting a little too close to the truth for comfort.

“But don’t you love theeeem?”

Yosuke rolled his eyes. “That’s not the same thing as romantic love. Anyway, Chie would kick my ass if I asked her _or_ Yukiko out, and Rise’s made it plenty clear who she’s interested in, so it’s not like there’re a lot of options here.”

“That’s not everyone on the team!”

“...You do realise Kanji and Naoto are _actually dating_ , right? I don’t need 65 kilos of muscle trying to beat me up. And Naoto’s legally allowed to carry a gun.” He shivered at the thought. They were a pretty dangerous couple, now that he thought about it. Definitely not going to get on _their_ bad side.

“Aren’t you fur-getting someone?” Teddie said, coming to sit cross legged on the bed, “There’s Teddiiiiie!” He tilted his head, smiling and batting his eyelashes. Yosuke still didn’t understand how he managed to _sparkle_ in real life. Hell, even in the TV world shadows didn’t sparkle.

Yosuke threw one of his shoes at his head. “I am _not_ asking you out, you dumb bear!”

“Hmph. Your loss,” Teddie replied, tossing his head, then settling back down with a surprisingly serious look that set Yosuke’s heart beating a bit too fast. Shit. He did not like where this was going. “Then you can ask Sensei.”

Teddie was looking directly at Yosuke and it felt like his eyes were pinning him down, keeping him from laughing easily at what was clearly a foolish suggestion. By the time he found his tongue again the pause had been too long, and there was an unpleasant tension in the air. His laugh, coming too late, fell flat.

“Pfft, stop making dumb suggestions.”

“It’s _not_ dumb. Sensei’s awesome! He’s a great cook, he’s nice, he’s handsome, he’s good with children… these are all important qualities to look for in a life partner. And he doesn’t have any red flags. Look, I did the quiz!” Teddie folded back the magazine, holding it up to Yosuke who stepped forward and tugged it out of his hands.

“What the hell have you been reading? I’m gonna tell all the cashiers they’re not allowed to sell you magazines anymore!”

Teddie’s face fell. “You’re so _MEEEAAN_ ,” he wailed. ” I’m gonna tell Mom!”

“Shhh! And for the last damn time, she’s not your Mom!” Yosuke retorted as he shoved the magazine up on a shelf out of Teddie’s reach.

“I’m just trying to help!” he said, sounding sincerely hurt. Yosuke felt bad; Teddie really did usually mean well. He moved to apologize, but was cut off. “I’ve heard you say his name while you’re asleep.” Oh, god. “Last night you asked him to marry you!”

Well, that was both better and much worse than he’d assumed. “Dreams don’t make any sense sometimes, ok! You don’t get any so you wouldn’t understand!”

“But he’s your partner, Yosukeee! You get jealous when he spends time with other people—”

“Stop.”

—and your face is all bright when he calls you—”

“I said stop!”

“—and you look at him like the people on the TV in the kissy movies look at each other—”

“FINE!” Yosuke finally yelled, exasperated to the point of breaking. “Fine, you got me, I like Yu. _So what?_ That doesn’t mean _he_ likes _me_! He can get anyone he wants. Like you said, he’s the perfect guy. And I don’t see how someone as perfect as him could be interested in a fuckup like me. So would you just _drop it?!_ ”

Yosuke stomped to his desk and sat, letting his head drop into his crossed arms. He felt the hot flush on his face and his eyes watering, and damn it this was awful enough of an afternoon without adding crying to it, and having to explain his red eyes to his parents, and — 

“You’re not a fuckup,” Teddie said in a small voice. There were light steps, and then a head dropped to rest on his upper back. “I think you’re great. I’d still be a very lonely bear in the TV world without you.”

Yosuke sighed heavily, his anger melting into plain exhaustion. He lifted his head off the desk and turned to face Teddie. “You’re not so bad yourself, Teddie. But I don’t want to get rejected by Yu. It’s going to be hard enough staying here when he has to leave, but if he’s not even talking to me anymore… I don’t think I could handle that.”

Teddie frowned. “Sensei wouldn’t do that!”

Yosuke reached over to pat him on the head. “Yu’s pretty great, but knowing someone’s interested in you when you’re not can make things awkward. Do you remember Saki? She was one of the first victims.” Teddie nodded. “We could have been friends. But I thought she wanted to go out with me, and… well, you heard her shadow. It made her mad that I took it the wrong way. She thought I was a pain in the ass. I don’t want Yu to feel that way about me.” Yosuke looked down at the floor. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t thought about this before, and it always looped back to this. He didn’t want to lose his best friend.

“But what if he likes you back? He looks at you a lot, too. Sometimes he does it, and then he blushes like he just did something bad. And he looks sad when he comes to Junes and you’re not there. If you don’t tell him then… won’t you always wonder?”

Yosuke stared at Teddie, mouth gaping open. Since when did he have the ability to be that mature? Not only that, but what he’d said made an uncomfortable amount of sense. His time with Yu was running out. If he didn’t say something before he left, would he ever get the chance again? He bit his lip, but saw an obvious problem even if he did want to confess tomorrow.

“Ugh, it’s not like I can get chocolates anywhere this late on the day before Valentine’s…”

Teddie bounced up with a smile. “Don’t worry, Teddie’s got it taken care of!” He grabbed his hand and tugged him out of the chair.

Downstairs, Teddie pulled a Junes bag out of a cupboard, which did indeed contain everything they’d need; chocolate, but also some colorings and nuts, and even a fish-shaped mold which Yu, with his weird fishing obsession, would probably love.

“How’d you know what to get?” he asked while pulling out a bowl, surprised.

“Ummm…” Yosuke looked up at Teddie, who wore a distinctly guilty expression.

“Teddie?”

The bear hurried out of the kitchen. “I have to go get the magazine, the recipe’s in there!”

“Wait!” Yosuke exclaimed, following him. “Don’t climb my bookshelf again, you almost broke my stereo last time!”

Yosuke still wanted to find out why Teddie had seemed so suspicious after the magazine was acquired, but time was running out if he wanted to get this done before his bedtime.

An hour later, the hazelnut and caramel-stuffed fishes with multicolored white chocolate scales were finally done. By some miracle it had all gone off rather well, except one scary moment when Teddie had attempted to microwave a fork, but Yosuke had luckily caught it before it went further than a few sparks. Once everything was clean and put away, they were both too exhausted to do more than wash their hands, brush their teeth, and fall into bed, and Yosuke didn’t get a chance to ask who, exactly, had helped him figure out just what to buy.


	6. confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever. This is the last part of the little valentine's day story, with the first part on day 1 (holiday) and 5 (after school). Make sure you read those first, and enjoy these nearly 3k of fluff (agh! too much!).

Yosuke awoke the next morning with a sense of foreboding dread that cristallised into low-grade terror as soon as he remembered the events of the previous evening. Teddie had talked him down and convinced him to make chocolates for Yu, and with all the complicated recipe steps to follow he hadn’t had too much time to think any further than the next one. Now he had chocolates in his fridge and no plan at all. His mom’s comment on how sweet it was that he’d made his own chocolates this year, and you’ll have to tell me all about the lucky girl, did not help his speeding heartbeat calm down.

He spent the entire walk to school growing more and more anxious. How was he going to do it? Face to face was out of the question. He could already imagine Yu’s voice, as nice as ever as it apologized, telling him it was very flattering but he didn’t feel the same way. On his desk would have been good, but he was going to be in way too late to do that without being seen. He would rather keep this specific embarrassment private. In his locker, that could be a good option… but the main goal here was to actually let Yu know how he felt, so it couldn’t be anonymous. Yu would probably be getting chocolates from half the school as it was, so unlabeled chocolates wouldn’t go very far.

He formulated a basic plan. Leave the chocolates at his locker, with a hastily added note. Sneak out during class under cover of visiting the bathroom to put them in Yu’s locker without anyone seeing. And finally, run away the moment the bell rang so he didn’t have to face the fallout in person. He was trying to convince himself it’d all go well when a familiar voice rang out behind him.

“Hello, Yosuke.”

He jumped about half a foot in the air and thanked whatever gods or demons were listening that he hadn’t been on his bike that day.

“He— hey, partner!”

“Are you alright?” Yu had his concerned look on, the slightest tightening at the corners of his eyes, but there was also some sort of… apprehension there that Yosuke couldn’t quite place.

“Yep! Doing great! Why do you ask!” Right. Because _that_ didn’t sound even more suspicious.

Luckily, Yu just raised an eyebrow at him and changed the subject, not even mentioning the date or asking if he’d planned anything for it, which Yosuke was very grateful for. He spent the rest of their walk talking about some weird historical thing he’d learned from Nanako’s game show the night before, which would have bored Yosuke half to sleep out of anyone else’s mouth but somehow managed to be captivating from him. So captivating that Yosuke didn’t realise until he was already in his seat that he hadn’t transferred the chocolates to his locker. _Shit._ How was he going to do it now? He couldn’t very well ask to go to the bathroom and walk out with them in hand. And what if Yu saw the box in his bag and asked who it was for?

His anxious spiral was interrupted by a brand new source of stress when girl after girl came by Yu’s desk to drop off beautifully wrapped boxes with shy blushes, and Yu sent each of them back box still in hand. How he managed to do it without making them angry was something Yosuke would never understand, but somehow they all left with a smile. If Yu was turning everyone down, what chance could Yosuke possibly have?

* * *

Yukiko could have gotten naked and tap danced on the teacher’s desk that morning and Yosuke wouldn’t have noticed, so caught up in his own thoughts was he. He went through all five stages of grief in a single class, from denial — I don’t even care if he rejects me! — to anger — at Teddie for convincing him to do this, at himself for being so afraid of it — to bargaining, depression and finally acceptance — he won’t ever return my feelings, there’s no point wondering about it — and then doing it all again in reverse order during the next class. By the time lunch finally came around, he’d sweat through the back of his shirt and was as tired as if he’d ran a marathon.

He figured he would just slip out during lunch and get it over with, but Yu turned around before he could get up.

“Will you come give out these chocolates to the team with me?” he asked, with that smile Yosuke couldn’t refuse.

“Of course.”

* * *

Yu had made adorable little chocolate cats, and seemingly had enough for half the school; not just the team, but also Ebihara, Naoki, some girl from the acting club, Kou and Daisuke, and even some of the teachers (not Kashiwagi, though; apparently even Yu’s amiability had its limits). After exchanging pleasantries with all of them, and the extra 10 minutes it took to detach Rise from Yu’s arm, they barely made it back in class before the bell rang. Yu placed another bag on each of Yukiko and Chie’s desks, smiling at them, but Yosuke noticed there was none for him.

His mind went into overdrive analyzing what that meant. Did Yu like him so little he didn’t even want to give him _friendship_ chocolates? No, that was his stress talking and he knew better than to give it credit. Had he ran out and figured Yosuke would be the most understanding? Well, that seemed fair enough. Or… did Yu have a different plan for him? Could Yosuke allow himself to hope for it?

While the bell rang and students walked back in, Yu turned in his chair to catch Yosuke’s eye, an unfamiliar incertitude in his expression. Yosuke stared as he realised he was even biting his lip. Yu was _always_ perfectly in control. The only time he’d seen that mask break down had been for Nanako.

“Will you wait for me after school, partner?”

Yosuke’s eyes widened. It was extremely rare for Yu to use that pet name back for him. “Ok!” he replied as their teacher walked in.

His focus that afternoon was no better than in the morning, although for different reasons. When classes finally ended, he followed Yu out the door eagerly.

“So, where to?”

Yu seemed to hesitate, then said, “The hospital. I have some more chocolates for one of the nurses there.”

Yosuke tried to keep the stabbing pain in his chest from showing up on his face. Yu just wanted company while making the rounds of his acquaintances outside of class, that was all. Yosuke’s silly hopes had, clearly, been misguided. The rest of the afternoon proved this right, as they followed the hospital up with the daycare, a visit to an old woman at the riverbank, and even a stop at the shrine.

“What’s next?” Yosuke asked dejectedly as they walked away from the police station, where they’d just been to see Dojima. He was beginning to wonder how Yu had possibly fit so many packages in his bag; this was getting outright ridiculous. He’d never noticed before just how many people Yu knew in town, either.

“That… was the last stop,” Yu said. He looked insistently at Yosuke, like there was something he wanted to say, and then dropped his eyes and shook his head. “Let’s head home.”

* * *

They were halfway across the Samegawa riverfront when Yosuke put a hand on Yu’s shoulder to stop him. This evening hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped it would, and he didn’t have any expectations for what was about to happen, but their paths would split up just past here and it was now or never.

“Yosuke?” Yu asked, turning to face him by the light of a streetlamp. There was no one around; it was too late, too cold, and people were either out on dates or home regretting the lack of them by now.

Yosuke reached a hand into his bag, placing it on the box but not pulling it out yet. He looked at Yu’s feet, unable to meet his eyes. 

“I wasn’t sure about doing this, but… you’re leaving soon, partner, and I don’t think I could live with myself if I didn’t tell you. It’s been the craziest and most amazing year of my life, and sure it was partly because of the TV world… but it was mostly because of you. Everything is exciting when you’re around. Even school isn’t as boring! I feel like I’m the better version of myself with you. I never expected to feel this way about a guy, nevermind my best friend, but... “ Yosuke swallowed hard and forced the words out. “I like you. I know you turned down everybody who asked you today, but please at least take these, even if it means nothing to you.” He pulled the box out of his bag and finally looked up at Yu as he held them out.

He’d been expecting disappointment, an apologetic smile, or maybe in the worst case, disgust. What he wasn’t prepared for was the warmth in Yu’s eyes or the huge smile on his face, brighter than any he’d seen before, nor the square box with picture perfect orange wrapping he held. Yu’s smile grew bigger yet as Yosuke caught his eye. He reached forward to grab the box and, to Yosuke’s confusion, set both of them aside on the ground before taking one large step forward and crushing him in a hug so tight it expelled all the air from his lungs in a single huff.

Yosuke felt an echoing grin paint itself across his face and he buried his head into Yu’s shoulder. He could feel Yu’s warm breath ghosting across his ear and his soft hair brushing his nose, and even though it tickled it was absolutely the most wonderful feeling in the world. There was only one thing missing for this to be perfect, and it was — 

“Air— partner I can’t— breathe—”

Yu loosened his arms and stepped back, blushing. “Sorry, I got a little carried away.”

“Don’t apologize,” Yosuke said as he pulled Yu back into another — looser — hug.

They stood like that for a minute in the cold yellow light before Yu broke the silence.

“I like you too, Yosuke.” He trembled, and his hands closed more tightly around Yosuke’s shoulders. “I like you _so much_.”

Yosuke pulled back to see tears in Yu’s eyes. “Hey! Hey, don’t cry, this is a good thing,” he said with a touch of alarm as he thumbed them away.

Yu smiled and shook his head. “No, I know. It is. I just didn’t think I could be this happy.”

That made Yosuke blush — how could _he_ be the reason Yu looked like that? He felt his breath grow shallow as they continued to look into each other’s eyes. Everyone talked of kisses and wandering hands and more, but this unbroken gaze had a magic of its own and he thought he might get lost in the sheer intimacy of it. Finally he mustered up the courage to step forward, eyes dropping to lips, but Yu stepped smoothly backwards. Before Yosuke could question it, he had scooped the chocolate boxes up and was beckoning him to follow.

“Humor me just a little longer, please?”

Yosuke tilted his head and followed Yu when no explanation was forthcoming, reaching for the orange box as they walked up the hill behind the river. There was no light but the moon here, which luckily shone bright enough this night to guide them. Yosuke pulled back the orange wrapping as carefully as he could. Inside the box, perfectly aligned musical notes alternated red and orange, the slight hint of shimmer in them catching in the moonlight.

He shuffled the paper and lid into his bag to free up his hand, but looked up to find there was already a piece of candy waiting in front of his lips.

“I hope you like them,” Yu said. It was hard to tell in the dark, but Yosuke thought he could make out a deep flush across his cheeks. He felt his own face flame as he realised he was being hand fed chocolates, and leaned forward to catch it with his teeth before he could overthink it further.

Any embarrassment he might have felt at the situation was instantly overridden by the smooth, delicious flavor of milk chocolate and strawberry flooding his mouth. It was perfect — of course it was perfect, it was _Yu_ who’d made them, but even so the shell was just the right thickness, the filling an ideal consistency, not too sweet or sticky. And despite their color they weren’t orange-flavored, because his best friend knew him _that_ well, knew that he loved the color and hated the flavor, and if Yosuke hadn’t already fallen for him he would have in that moment.

He turned to Yu, adoration painted in broad strokes on his face.

“You’re perfect, partner.”

Yu ducked his head and laughed. “It’s just chocolate.”

“It’s never _just_ anything with you in the kitchen,” Yosuke replied, knocking his shoulder against Yu’s. “There’s no way mine are anywhere near as good.”

“I know I’ll love them,” Yu said.

“Hmm?”

“You made them for me.”

How he could say things like that with such a straight face, as easily as saying “the sky is blue” or “Chie loves meat,” went over Yosuke’s head. What was he supposed to answer to that? Rather than try to figure it out, he reached across Yu to open the box he still held, pulling out one of the fishes he and Teddie had made. “Here, try one.”

Yu imitated his earlier actions, snapping up the chocolate with his teeth. His eyes drifted shut as he chewed, and he hummed lightly.

“Yosuke, this is amazing. Is there.. Hazelnut? And caramel?”

“Mm. Yeah,” Yosuke replied, embarrassed at the excessive praise.

“I had no idea you could bake like this,” Yu said earnestly, eyes back on Yosuke.

“Well, I had some help from Teddie.”

“Teddie, hmm?” Yu seemed thoughtful, and more than a little suspicious. “Remind me to thank him later. And you should probably thank Nanako.”

“Huh? What do you mean, partner?”

“Did you originally plan to confess to me today? Or did Teddie help you decide to do it?”

“He did … wait. Did we get set up by Teddie and Nanako?”

Yu chuckled. “It looks like it. But,” he said, lightly taking hold of Yosuke’s elbow and turning him to face the view they’d just reached, “I don’t think I can find it in me to be mad about it.”

Yosuke leaned on the fence, looking out at the scattered lights of Inaba. “Neither can I, I guess. What are we doing up here, anyway? It’s cold!”

Yu came to stand next to Yosuke. “Last summer you told me I was special to you, right here. That’s the day I realised how special you were to me, too. I remember thinking how perfect you were — the sun was making your hair glow and you were blushing like mad over saying such sappy stuff out loud, but for me you were willing to do it. I wanted to kiss you so badly, Yosuke. I’ve imagined kissing you here a hundred times and more.”

Yu turned to Yosuke then, tilting his chin up with one of his hand while the other pushed back his bangs.

“May I?”

He was so very close. Yosuke thought he might faint; his face was on fire where Yu’s hands touched it, and he wasn’t quite sure how he was still standing considering his legs felt like jelly. That seemed like it could be a problem, so he grabbed Yu’s shoulders to hold himself up. He looked up at the slightly taller boy expectantly only to find a slightly worried expression. Oh, right, he needed to answer, and now he’d waited too long and he was making it weird and —

His body seemed to take over and he found himself moving across the remaining few inches between them. He fit his lips to Yu’s and it was like a jolt of lightning flashed through him, entry point: his lips. When it abated, all his stress and anxiety and fear seemed to leave with it, leaving behind only calm bliss. Yosuke’s hands slid up easily to tangle in Yu’s silky grey hair, nails scraping his scalp ever so gently, and he took advantage of Yu’s small gasp of surprise to slip the tip of his tongue into his mouth. The marvelous warmth of Yu’s tongue against his ripped away the last of his grasp on conscious thought, and he surrendered himself to their kiss.

It was, all things considered, a rather amateur first kiss, with excessive saliva, artless crushing of lips, and altogether way too much tongue. When Yosuke finally drew away, Yu’s eyes were hazy and bright, and he breathed, “be mine, partner,” in a ragged voice. Yosuke wouldn’t have traded any of it for the world. 


	7. costumes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 8: costumes. I'm skipping day 7 for now because it reaaally didn't want to happen. This is all fluff.

Yu waited patiently with his back turned towards Yosuke while he laced up his leather vest. Outside the drama club’s windows, the golden tones of late-afternoon lit up the red leaves that still clung to the trees. They had about an hour before they needed to pick up Nanako and head to the Amagi Inn, where a Halloween night of “delightful fear” in Yukiko’s words, and “do we have to go, partner??” in Yosuke’s words, awaited them. 

“What are you even supposed to be?” Yosuke asked while he worked.

Yu shrugged. “A medieval...something? I don’t know, I saw the vest the other day and I thought it looked cool. The ways of the drama club costume closet are deep and impenetrable. Why, does it look bad?”

Yosuke put his hands on Yu’s shoulders, turning him back now that he was done. After a cursory glance, he rolled his eyes. “No, of course it doesn’t. You make everything look good.” For some reason, he seemed to turn a bit pink after saying that, turning hurriedly away from Yu.

“What are you planning to wear?”

Yosuke shifted on his feet, looking uncomfortable. “I was going to just pick something up from Junes, but they were sold out of anything not slutty by the time I remembered…”

“Oh, we can just grab something from the closet for you too, then. Yumi told me I should feel free to use anything in there. The club’s been doing more ‘modern’ plays lately anyway, so none of it gets much use.”

Yu stepped over to the closet and opened it. It was a surprisingly deep hodge-podge of racks and boxes, having evolved over the years to fit the growing drama club’s needs, and contained a rather musty, but perfectly suitable, plethora of options. Yu started flipping through the first rack, pausing at a rather detailed maid’s dress that he was surprised to see there; it seemed much too well-made next to the cheap rayon outfits that had clearly come straight from a party store. Behind his shoulder, Yosuke choked.

“Nope! Nope, that’s not happening, partner.”

Yu laughed as he realised that it’d looked like he was picking that outfit. Continuing on, he flipped past a few Ghibli-themed kigurumis; they were an easy enough choice, but it wasn’t very original. He continued on to another rack, coughing a bit as he stepped deeper into the dark space. There was more awful satiny fabric there, wrinkly witches and fairies cohabiting, and Yu was beginning to consider going back to the kigurumis when he struck gold. The hussar jacket in front of him was black with thick gold trim, edged in fur and red fabric. On the sleeves, more gold braid was patterned into large flourishes. The fabric had the heft of quality as Yu pulled it out to show Yosuke.

Yosuke gasped when he took it from his hands. “That’s Jimi Hendrix’s jacket! It’s perfect!”

Yu raised an eyebrow, turning back to look at it. In the light, it looked even better, not at all damaged or dusty from the years it must have spent in the closet. Yu recognized the rock musician Yosuke referenced, but didn’t know enough of him to identify his clothes. He trusted Yosuke, in any case; he could be startlingly knowledgeable about things that interested him.

“What else do you need?” he asked, turning back to the racks.

“Hmm… Some sixties’ style pants, a scarf, and—”

“— a button up shirt?” Yu completed, pulling out the next hanger, which had those exact items on it.

Yosuke grabbed them out of his hands excitedly. “Yeah! Wow, this costume is perfect. I really hope it fits!”

He quickly stripped down to his boxers and pulled the outfit on. The pants were a bit long, which Yu easily fixed with some safety pins, but the rest fit surprisingly well. When Yosuke finished doing up the buttons on his shirt and shrugged into the jacket, Yu found himself staring. He knew Yosuke the student very well, frequently saw Yosuke the Junes employee, and had grown used to Yosuke the TV world fighter. However, Yosuke the rock star was not a version of his best friend he’d ever seen before. The outfit fit him, not just in size but in spirit; with it on, Yosuke’s hair looked stylishly messy rather than unkempt, his pose less surly teenager and more casually cool celebrity, and even his face seemed more intense somehow.

“So, what do you think?”

Yu blinked, the image of spotlights and stage disappearing, and saw his best friend looking at him expectantly. His excited expression had faded into one of confusion at Yu’s silence. Shaking his head to clear it, Yu managed to mumble something about the clothes fitting well. He reached for the scarf and bent down to tie it around Yosuke’s neck, but as a distraction it fell rather short; Yosuke’s face mere inches from him, the feel of his chest rising and falling beneath his hands, the light smell of his cologne, all seemed designed to completely overwhelm him.

“Holy shit, Yu. Are you blushing?” Yosuke’s hand slid under Yu’s chin, tipping his face up.

Between the words and the soft touch, the mild heat in Yu’s cheeks grew to a roaring fire. He took a step back to catch his breath but found that the full effect of Yosuke’s costume was even more distracting than it had been from close up and dropped his gaze to the floorboards, desperately willing his face to return to its usual calm.

Yu was not so straight as Inaba’s population seemed to think he was. It was something he’d known about himself for a very long time. He could appreciate a girl’s beauty, but found no attraction in it; it had always been boys he had imagined when he thought of love, of holding hands and kissing. He’d learned to keep it quiet after a few awkward childhood conversations with somewhat close-minded teachers, and in any case he’d decided before even coming to Inaba that he wouldn’t be looking for romance here, in this very temporary home.

However, none of these careful decisions could stop him from noticing a good looking man, and he was definitely noticing this one. He’d quickly realised that Yosuke was a pretty cute guy, with his bright smile and upturned nose, but it had never gone further than that; many guys were cute, and Yosuke was his best friend — his _very straight_ best friend.

The person standing in front of him now was not _cute_. The words attractive, hot, maybe even sexy came to mind, and Yu was glad this wasn’t the first time he was meeting Yosuke, because his lifelong disdain for the concept of love at first sight might have been a bit hypocritical had it been.

Yosuke was still looking at him inquisitively, his hand having dropped back at his side when Yu had stepped back.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you blush,” he said, and his eyes widened as Yu remained unable to find his words. “Wait. Is it because of _me_?”

Yu gulped, searching desperately for a safe answer in the jumbled confusion of his mind. Somehow, the best thing he found to reply was, “I’m not straight.”

Yosuke raised an eyebrow at him. “Yeah, I know.”

“What?” Yu couldn’t stop the panicked reply from bursting out. Who had he told? He was so sure he’d kept his mouth shut; not even Dojima knew. Had he said something during that infamous night on the school trip?

“When you turned down Yukiko of Amagi challenge fame, I figured it could be a matter of personal taste. But you’ve also turned down the super popular Ebihara, that one girl from your drama club, and even an _idol_. At some point it becomes hard to justify as pickiness, dude. And, well… you’re my best friend. I’d like to think I know you pretty well. And what I’ve noticed is that you don’t look twice at a hot girl, but you do when it’s a guy.”

Yu cringed. So much for being discrete; apparently he’d been more than obvious. “Is it… ok?”

“Uh, duh? Why wouldn’t it be?”

“...Kanji?”

It was Yosuke’s turn to look embarrassed. “I really was a dick about him, huh?”

Yu hummed in agreement; Yosuke’s reactions to their bleach-blond teammate had been one of the reasons he’d decided to keep his sexual orientation private even from his best friend.

“I’m sorry about that,” Yosuke said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I don’t have a problem with it, I was just… jealous of him, I guess. People wouldn’t call _him_ the prince of Junes or some other stupid name, you know? He’s not afraid of being himself. And this sexuality thing, it was one of the few things that did bother him, so it was easy to use it against him. I know, it was really stupid of me,” Yosuke said, wincing. “Then when he accepted his shadow, and it turned out he was so much more than some dumb punk, I was kinda worried he’d replace me. I mean, he’s stronger, he’s smarter—”

“No,” Yu interrupted. “Don’t get me wrong, he’s smarter than most people give him credit for, but you’re a much better strategist. But… you were kind of awful to him at the camping trip, and by then you should have realised he wasn’t going to replace you, no?” Yu thought of that trip more often than he’d have liked to. He couldn’t shake the awful thought that that was that how Yosuke, and others, saw people like him, as creepy predators.

Yosuke rubbed his forehead with one hand, taking a deep breath. “That… no. There was another reason.” There was definitely a dusting of pink under his freckles now, and Yu wondered what that was about, waiting patiently for Yosuke to go on. “I was mad he invaded our private space. I was looking forward to having you all to myself all night…”

Yu looked up at Yosuke, startled. The way he’d worded that, it sounded like there was a suggestion of something more than friendliness there, and the look on his face seemed to confirm it. It wasn’t, as Yu had feared at first, disgusted, or even kindly apologetic; it was soft, warm, maybe even affectionate.

Now that their eyes had found each other it seemed that they couldn’t break apart, like magnets snapped together too strongly, and Yu could only watch on in fascination as Yosuke stepped forward and took one of his hands in his, licking his lips and swallowing visibly.

“In case it wasn’t clear, I’ve liked you for a while, partner.”

His eyes flicked down to Yu’s lips, an obvious invitation if an unconscious one, and Yu — Yu who’d decided not to date in Inaba, Yu who’d never thought of his best friend that way before the last half hour, Yu who’d wanted to keep his sexual orientation a secret — Yu leaned in, and without any hesitation, pressed his lips carefully to Yosuke’s.

The kiss was over almost as quickly as it’d started, Yu pulling away as his inhibitions came crashing back, but Yosuke pressed him into a tight hug before he could move any farther and he let himself melt into it. Yosuke was warm and wonderful against his chest. It didn’t do much to calm the mess inside his head, but it was too comfortable to pass up. After some time, Yosuke drew back, letting his hands settle on Yu’s waist. Yu, who’d begun to lose his grasp on rational thought, reached forward blindly to pull him back in, then had a better idea.

“I... you... Kiss me,” he mumbled, sliding his hands into Yosuke’s hair and tugging him closer.

Yosuke laughed, lightly pecking Yu’s nose. “Not that I wouldn’t love to continue this all night, but we have a party to get to.”

“Don’t care about the party,” Yu grumbled, keeping hold of Yosuke.

“What about Nanako. Isn’t she waiting for us?”

Oh, no. Nanako! Yu immediately let go of Yosuke and hurried over to shove his clothing into his bag. “Are we late?!”

Yosuke burst out laughing. “Guess I’ll always be second to a girl in your heart,” he said in a teasing voice. When Yu turned to him with a guilty expression, he shook his head. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re not late, don’t worry,” he added as he packed his own clothes up.

* * *

It was quiet as they walked out of school, students either in clubs or having already headed home. As soon as the school had disappeared behind them, Yosuke turned to Yu.

“So, how long have you liked me?”

Yu looked away. “Umm… since you put on that jacket.”

“Wait, what?!” Yosuke exclaimed. Yu suddenly realised how awful that sounded — like he’d only kissed Yosuke because he looked good in a costume, which was somewhat true even though it was more the catalyst than the reason for his attraction. And after Yosuke had told him he’d liked him for “a while,” too — he really was an asshole.

“Sorry,” he apologized, biting his lip.

“Don’t be sorry, partner. It’s just that… I’ve been wondering if you liked me for a few months. Everyone has?”

Yu stared at him. “Uh, why?”

“We’re never apart in the TV world, and you always heal me first. And you get me the best equipment. All of that could be just strategy, but… you’re also kind of always looking at me? Not just when we’re fighting, in the real world too.”

That made no sense. Yu hadn’t even known he was attracted to Yosuke until today, so how could he have done that? He opened his mouth to reply, and images appeared in his mind — Yosuke laughing at a joke, eating beef bowls, biting the end of his pencil as he studied, nodding along to his music, shaking water from his hair — and he remembered, suddenly, the many times he’d spaced out staring at his best friend, only to snap back to reality as Yosuke smiled at him, or waved a hand in his face.

“I...am really dense,” he said defeatedly.

Yosuke burst out laughing. “A little bit, yeah.”

“What about you, how long?”

“Since Izanagi.”

Yu tilted his head, frowning. Izanagi wasn’t a measure of time in any language _he_ spoke. 

“Since you first summoned Izanagi,” Yosuke clarified. “I am so glad Chie didn’t come with us for that one, because I’m pretty sure it was impossible to see that and not fall for you instantly. I would _not_ want to have to fight Chie for your affection. I don’t think my balls could survive it.”

Yu stopped in his tracks, turning to look at Yosuke.

“But that’s basically since we met.”

Yosuke flushed. “Well, yeah.”

“You’ve liked me this whole time?”

Yosuke nodded. “You were worth waiting for, partner,” he said quietly.

The words sent a shiver running through Yu; he’d always thought that was just overwrought imagery, yet here he was, feeling like he might flicker out of existence if Yosuke said just one more sweet thing. He threw his arms around him, as though that might keep him grounded but it only made the buzzing in his head stronger. He hadn’t realised it was possible to feel this happy.

When they separated, Yosuke whispering another reminder about Nanako in his ear, he slipped his hand into Yosuke’s, who entwined their fingers and started rubbing his thumb softly. Yu refused to let go; not when they got to the house to pick up Nanako, and not when they got to the inn, either. The teasing from their friends was worth it when it meant Yosuke settled into his lap after Nanako had gone to bed (it was, obviously, her seat prior to that), and let him play with the short hairs at the nape of his neck instead of watching some gruesome movie. And if Yosuke’s fear meant he clung a little more tightly to Yu’s arm, well, who was complaining?


	8. summer vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 9: summer vacation

Yu was not moping. He was simply _disappointed_ , and he was allowed that much at least, wasn’t he? Maybe the one word answers to all his parents’ questions paired with the refusal to eat more than a bite of food at meals was a bit much, but then again, denying him his summer vacation in Inaba was a bit much too, so they were even.

* * *

Tokyo was the same it had ever been; loud and impersonal, and Yu had settled back into his shroud of invisibility when he’d returned. He was quiet, well-behaved, smart — but not smart enough to be top of the class here, where expectations were higher and competition fiercer — kind, too… all traits that had made him a standout in Inaba, but here served to let him fade into the background, just one more face in the crowd. It wasn’t that he was lonely; he had a handful of friends, people to go to the arcade with on a rare Sunday off from studying or sit together at lunch, and his tutoring job to keep him busy. But after having known the sunshine-bright love of his Inaba crowd, it was hard to go back to this grey fog of impersonality. And then there was the Yosuke situation.

When Yu had left Inaba the first time, back in March, it had been a sad but expected day. He’d known it was coming all year, and felt he had wrapped up loose ends as well as could be expected. Sure, he’d miss his band of friends, but he knew he’d be visiting them again soon, and chatting with them often — it would be ok. His third year, full of college prep, would be keeping him busy enough in the meantime.

The second time, at the end of golden week, had been an entirely different story. Yu had realised, over the course of their month apart, the accuracy of the saying “absence makes the heart grow stronger,” and had barely managed to hold back until they were alone to whisper his awkward confession to his best friend. By some miracle Yosuke had returned his feelings, and they’d spent the rest of the week holding hands and kissing every time they got a moment alone, which wasn’t anywhere near as often as Yu’d have liked.

The last day, Yu and Yosuke had stood alone on the platform, their friends and family having said their goodbyes earlier to give them some privacy. Friendships carried well over the internet, laughter shared in emoji and voice chats. Romantic relationships had somewhat more to lose from the distance, and their kisses had been damp and tasted of tears in the twilight.

Two months between golden week and summer vacation. Yu had marked them out on his calendar, had checked the boxes off each morning that brought him one day closer to being back in his boyfriend’s arms. Until one night in late May, when his parents had brought up, casually over dinner as if they were suggesting visiting his aunt the next weekend, that Yu would be spending the summer touring Europe with them.

There would be no beach trip with the gang, no casual visit to Daidara’s, no beef bowls delivered to the most incongruous places, and most important of all, no late nights with Yosuke by the Samegawa or at the shrine or in his room if he got lucky and Dojima was out late. So maybe Yu _was_ moping a little bit, but who could blame him?

* * *

A few days later, he was attempting to distract himself by working on homework — which was going about as well as could be expected — when his mother called out to him from the living room.

“Yu! Come here.”

He’d wondered how long they would let him get away with this mood, unwilling to force fake happiness unless and until they forced him to; it seemed that time had come. He dragged himself out of his chair and down the stairs, feeling like a grey stormcloud followed him, casting everything he saw and felt in shadow.

His mother patted the seat next to her on the couch and Yu, ever the obedient child, sat down.

“I know you’re not happy that you can’t spend the summer in Inaba, but we’re doing this for you. It’s important for us that you experience other cultures, that you see how other people live. You understand, right?”

Yu nodded; he doubted he could keep the resentment out of his voice if he spoke.

“We’re lucky that we can afford to do this; it was something important to us when we planned to have children, being able to give them experiences like this. Someday, you’ll be glad about it.”

Yu nodded again. So this was just an attempt to guilt him into being happy about this, apparently.

“But it’s clear you’re not going to get much out of this trip if you’re just wishing you were somewhere else the whole time.”

Well, one point for his parents, at least they weren’t completely stupid.

“So we’ve decided to let you bring a friend along.”

Huh?! “You’ve… what?”

His mother nodded. “We’ll pay for their plane and train tickets. They’ll have to cover food and visits. Think of it as your early birthday _and_ Christmas presents for the year.”

Yu wanted to pinch himself — this had to be a dream. No Inaba was still disappointing; it meant no Nanako, no friends… but getting to have Yosuke all to himself for a whole month would go a very long way towards making up for it.

She smiled at his dumbfounded expression. “We want what’s best for you, kid. That doesn’t mean making you miserable all summer. So go on, go call your girlfriend,” she added with a teasing lilt to her voice.

Yu was a very calm person, not prone to extreme reactions. Therefore, he could say with reasonable certitude that this was the first time he’d ever truly understood what the expression “one’s eyes bugging out of their head” truly meant. His jaw had even dropped somewhat, and if he’d meant to be discreet about it that was definitely blown.

His mother’s laugh startled him back to himself. “Come on! I know I’m old, but I was your age once too. That constant gloom was a bit much for someone just sad about not seeing his friends.”

Yu flushed; he’d underestimated his mother. Clearly she didn’t mind the idea of him bringing a romantic partner along, so that much was fine, but there was another hurdle to cross now. He wanted to think it’d be ok. His parents had never made disparaging comments towards gay people, despite his country’s rather conservative view on it. That said, they’d never made positive comments about it, either. He hesitated, looking down, and then finally let out, in a half-whisper, “...it’s Yosuke.”

His mother tilted her head, seeming confused. “Hmm?”

“The ‘girlfriend’,” he repeated in a slightly louder voice. “It’s Yosuke.”

“Oh,” she said with a blink, and then after a short moment, “Oooooh. I see.”

Yu kept his eyes glued to the floor, not willing to see the disgust or anger on his mother’s face. He should have lied, should have asked to bring Nanako — she wasn’t Yosuke, but he loved her too, and at least he wouldn’t have been alo— 

His dark train of thoughts was interrupted by the shock his mother wrapping her arms around him. They were not a family that showed affection physically, and nothing could have prepared him for it.

“Thank you,” she murmured against his hair, her voice sounding slightly broken, and he felt a weight he’d unconsciously been carrying for weeks suddenly lift. “For trusting me. I know we haven’t been the most emotionally open of parents, so… thank you.”

She pulled back, and Yu was surprised to see tears glinting at the corners of her eyes. She was kind enough, and her serious facade often gave way to more humorous moods, but this emotionally vulnerable side of her was one he’d never seen before. He broke eye contact, feeling overwhelmed, and muttered back his own thanks.

After a few moments in silence, his mom said, “Well, what are you waiting for? Call him!”

He shook himself out of his stupor and reached for his phone. As usual, Yosuke answered him on the first ring; the only time he didn’t was when he was working or showering.

“Hey, partner!”

“Hi, Yosuke.”

“What’s up? I thought we were calling later tonight.”

Yu tried to put his thoughts in order, to figure out how to explain everything, and finally gave up and went for directness.

“Do you want to come to Europe with me this summer? Also, my mom knows we’re dating.”

There was some strangled sound on the other end of the line, before Yosuke managed to wheeze out a “run that by me again?”

  


After Yu had managed to explain the situation more clearly, Yosuke excitedly agreed, before sobering up and saying he wasn’t sure he could get the whole summer off from working at Junes. When Yu relayed the information to his mother, she frowned, then motioned for him to give her his phone. He raised an eyebrow, and she whispered “Tell him to get his dad on the line.”

Once she had the phone, she wandered off into her bedroom and closed the door, leaving Yu to rush to his computer to chat with Yosuke. They anxiously awaited the outcome of the discussion, unable to keep themselves from talking about how cool it would be to spend the summer together — sharing a hotel room, getting to see the sights together, trying all sorts of foreign foods — even though they knew it’d make it even worse if it didn’t work out.

Finally, after what was at most 20 minutes but felt like 3 days to Yu, his mother came out of her room and handed Yu his phone, warm from use. Her face was emotionless, and as she took a deep breath Yu braced himself for the bad news.

“Yosuke’s family decided to pay for his expenses during the trip, and because his father is so grateful to you for being such a good influence, he’s decided to allow Yosuke to visit here next weekend instead of working,” she said, her face breaking out in a smile. “I may have helped him come to that decision. Two months seemed a little too long for you two to be apart, no?”

Yu’s family was quiet, amicable, kind but not physically close. As he threw his arms around his mother and squeezed her so tight she gasped, he decided that perhaps that point would have to be updated.


	9. tokyo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> day 10: tokyo. I'm sorry, this somehow ended up being over 4k words?!

One hour on this regional train, twenty minutes at the station and then another hour and a half on the high speed train, and he’d be stepping into Yu’s arms on the platform in Tokyo. Less than three hours. Which, judging by the fact that the last 10 minutes had taken approximately 5 hours, would take a month or two.

  


Yosuke was a city boy, as far as Inaba was concerned, but the city he’d come from was pretty small when it came down to it. Sure, it had more than one movie theater and multiple shopping districts, which put it far ahead of Okina city, but compared to Tokyo it was basically the countryside. If anyone really deserved the title of city boy, it was Yu, who lived in a duplex apartment high in a tower in Tokyo’s downtown.

Yosuke had been to Tokyo before, but he’d been younger and had spent the whole time with his parents, going to “educational” spots like museums and historical buildings. He couldn’t wait to explore the city with Yu, to learn about where he’d grown up, all his favorite haunts… It was going to be awesome. The only downside was that he’d be there barely a day and a half. They’d just have to make it count!

Yu, unfortunately, was in class at the moment, which meant he couldn’t distract himself by texting him. He had downloaded a movie which helped the time pass a little faster, and before he knew it Yosuke was sitting in the shinkansen for the first time in his life. He watched the fields rush by his window, melodic movie soundtracks playing through his headphones. It was oddly peaceful, going this fast. He’d tried to text Yu at first since he was out of class by now, but the speed apparently kept his phone from connecting to the signal, and after realising he’d lost half its battery life in 20 minutes he’d turned it on flight mode.

The train’s slowing down brought Yosuke out of his reverie. Outside, the fields had given way to small homes, then to gradually larger buildings; leaning forward a bit he could make out the shadow of towers in the distance. He turned his phone back on.

> **Yu** On my way to pick you up!

_almost ther, c u soon prtnr_ , he sent back before packing his belongings up and preparing to get off.

  


Yu was surprisingly tall for a Japanese man, which had a variety of advantages including being easy to spot. He stood by the edge of the platform, looking as calm as ever with one hand in his pocket. Yosuke’d never seen him in his Tokyo school’s uniform, and the understated vest in dark grey with light teal accents made him look even more like a runway model than usual. He took a moment to admire him before rushing forward and throwing his arms around him, enjoying his surprised gasp and subsequent affectionate laughter.

“I missed you,” Yu said as he kissed Yosuke’s cheek. Yosuke startled away from it before realising there was no reason to hide anymore — both their parents knew, and in a city the size of Tokyo the judgment of others wasn’t as personal as in Inaba. Grinning at the realisation, Yosuke took hold of Yu’s hand and leaned into him.

“Missed you too, partner. So, where to?”

Yu led him through the station to the subway. They were walking down some stairs when Yosuke spotted a poster with Rise as Risette announcing the new album she’d been telling them about.

“Look, it’s finally out!” he exclaimed, pointing in its direction. Yu turned around to see what he was talking about, startled — and missed the next step, tumbling to the bottom of the stairs before Yosuke’s horrified eyes.

“Yu! Are you ok?” he called as he rushed down to kneel at his side. Around them, passersby were casting worried glances at Yu, who still hadn’t gotten back up.

He lifted his eyes to meet Yosuke’s with a wince. “Ow.”

“Did you hit your head? Can you stand?”

“I can try,” he replied, putting a hand on Yosuke’s shoulder to push himself up. The moment he put his weight on his left foot, though, he stumbled, and Yosuke barely managed to catch him before he fell back down. “I think I did something to my ankle,” he said in a strained voice.

Yosuke bit his lip as he pulled back the hem of Yu’s pants to reveal a rapidly swelling bruise that looked particularly nasty. When Yu gasped in pain as he tried to get his shoe and sock off, Yosuke could have sworn he felt a phantom pain in his own ankle. It was a good thing they hadn’t been dating yet when they’d been getting injured regularly in the TV world, or this level of empathy could have been a real problem. Yu seemed to be looking a little more out of it, sweat beading on his forehead where he’d pushed his bangs aside and eyes unfocused.

“Shh, partner. Gotta get this off and then I’ll call you an ambulance, ok? You’re gonna be fine,” Yosuke said in a soft voice, trying to conceal his worry.

While they waited for emergency services to arrive, Yu’s leg resting carefully in Yosuke’s lap, he kept running a soothing hand over his partner’s head. Yu’s eyes were watering, and as he wiped them off he willed the ambulance to hurry. He knew this was unlikely to be any sort of dangerous injury, but he hated seeing his partner in pain; if he could have done anything to take the pain on himself and spare Yu, he would have done it in that moment.

A short ambulance ride and a longer emergency room wait later, they were sitting in a doctor’s office, listening to the diagnostic. Yu luckily only had a bad sprain and a constellation of bruises, no fracture or concussion; his earlier drowsiness had only been due to shock.

“Ice it as soon as you get home, stay off it for a few days, and it should get better within a few weeks,” the doctor told them as she wrote up a prescription for pain medication and an ankle brace, and sent for some crutches for him to borrow for the week.

  


They made it home an hour before dinner time, Yu looking exhausted as he dropped onto the couch in his living room. The house was clean and neat, very minimalist in decor; not cold, but sleek. This contrasted greatly with Yosuke’s home, which had pictures and bright colors everywhere, but it was nice in its own way. Yosuke went to find an ice pack — a real one, kept in the freezer “just in case,” and if Yosuke had needed any more proof of the difference between their families this was it; in his house ice packs were always frozen bags of veggies smacked on the counter a few times to break them up.

“I’m such an idiot,” Yu groaned, letting his head drop against the back of the couch. “I ruined our weekend together.”

“What? No! It’s not your fault you got hurt,” Yosuke replied as he sat down next to him. “If anything, it’s mine, I’m the one who distracted you.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds with matching guilty faces before Yu started to laugh, Yosuke quickly joining him.

“Ok, fine. It’s both our faults. No point blaming ourselves,” Yu said as he dropped his head onto Yosuke’s shoulder. “But I had so many things planned, and now we can’t do any of them! I was gonna take you to dinner, and to this really nice cafe I’ve found… To Akihabara too, you would have loved it.”

He was pouting, and Yosuke poked his nose. “I was excited to visit Tokyo with you, partner, but the important part of that sentence is ‘with you.’ I’m happy just to get to see you,” he said, leaning down to press a kiss against Yu’s silver hair.

They spent some time on the couch together, catching each other up on the few things in their life they hadn’t already discussed by chat, and talking about their upcoming trip together.

Yu’s mother came home a short while later, exclaiming over Yu’s injury and asking to see his bruises. When Yu lifted his shirt to show her his back, Yosuke found himself staring at his well-defined abs before he managed to rouse himself, shouting about “bathroom!” and rushing off, blushing. His partner hadn’t lost anything from their TV world days, on the contrary; he seemed even more muscular now than he had then, and it was doing things to Yosuke that he wasn’t planning to act on for a while yet.

He came back after splashing some water on his face to tamp down the redness, to find that Yu’s mother had set the table. She’d brought home some convenience store sushi when Yu’d told her about his injury. They sat down together, Yu hopping to his seat on one foot.

“So, Yosuke, I hear you and your friends still visit my niece frequently,” Yu’s mother said as she picked out a few pieces.

“Oh! Um, yeah… she’s great, and Dojima doesn’t mind us coming by as long as it’s not too late. She’s the best kid ever!”

Yu’s mother smiled. “She really is, isn’t she. My brother lucked out. Not like me!”

“Mom?” Yu said, looking alarmed.

“The amount of trouble this one caused me,” she said with a laugh, completely ignoring Yu’s protestations. “Did you know he broke his arm riding his bike down a steep hill? Twice! The moment the cast came off, what did he do but rush off to try again.”

“You never told me that,” Yosuke said, trying to suppress his amusement. The idea that Yu had been a turbulent child was so at odds with his self-assured, cool demeanour.

Yu had his face buried in his hands. “Are you guys done yet…”

“Oh, come on,” Yu’s mother replied. “You never bring anyone home, this is the first time I get to do the embarrassing mom thing! Oooh, maybe I can bring out the photo albums later,” she added, looking positively overjoyed at the thought.

“Mooooommmmmm,” Yu moaned in response.

“Fine, fine. We’re done.” She leaned over to muss up his hair. “I’m lucky you grew up into such a well-behaved young man. Now stop complaining and eat your sushi.”

  


They settled in Yu’s bedroom after dinner to watch a TV series on his laptop. Yu had put his head down on Yosuke’s shoulder, and he soon fell into the deep breaths that indicated he was asleep.

“Hey. Hey, partner, let’s get you in bed” Yosuke said, gently caressing Yu’s cheek to wake him up.

“Wha’sat, sweetheart?” Yu slurred out sleepily.

Yosuke’s eyes went wide. “That… that’s new.” Yu rarely even used their “partner” nickname, nevermind “sweetheart.”

At that, Yu woke up fully, slapping a hand over his mouth. “Shit. Sorry!”

“What? Don’t be sorry, it’s adorable. Just never heard you call me that before.”

“I… uh, may have been calling you that and other names in my head for a while now,” Yu said, looking shyly aside.

“Mmm,” Yosuke hummed as he leaned forward and pecked Yu on the nose. “Well, I don’t mind if you do it out loud more. It’s nice.”

Yosuke set Yu’s futon up and helped him into it. He didn’t like Yu being hurt, but there was something about being able to support him in such a literal way that felt good. He felt... needed.

“Sorry, Yosuke. I think the pain meds are knocking me out,” Yu said with a jaw-cracking yawn once he was settled under his blanket. “I’m being a terrible host… you can read or play on my tv if you want.”

“Get some sleep, Yu. I’ll be fine,” Yosuke replied, dropping a final kiss on Yu’s lips before going to turn the overhead light off in favor of the desk lamp. Yu was out before he’d even finished, and Yosuke took the opportunity to flip through Yu’s bookshelf. There was a wide variety of books on it, from novels to study guides, travel brochures and manga. He was checking what series Yu had when he caught a the corner of a magazine peeking out from where it had seemingly been hidden.

Tugging at the magazine, he nearly dropped it when he realised the cover was adorned with topless women in nurse outfits. All this time trying to find his stash and it was hidden in plain sight? Nurses, too — it looked like he and Yu had similar tastes. Somehow, though, he felt slightly bothered by the magazine’s presence. Not that he would begrudge Yu the right to some help getting off — long distance relationships could be a little frustrating, not that they’d gotten that far together yet anyway — but those girls… they were as far from Yosuke as it was possible to get. Tall, buxom, mature, _female_. If this was what Yu liked, how could Yosuke match up?

He opened the magazine idly, much less interested than he’d once been in the unrealistic girls it contained, and was startled to find a post-it on the first page.

“Yosuke — Enjoy. And keep looking. This still isn’t my stash.

<3, Yu”

It took all he had not to burst out laughing and wake Yu up. Damn it, but how did he know him so well? Grabbing a pen off Yu’s desk, he added a quick note of his own, hoping Yu wouldn’t see it _too_ soon.

“Thanks, partner. Next time I’d rather have the real deal though.”

He blushed at how suggestive that was, but he wouldn’t be seeing Yu again until their trip in a month; he’d have time to work through the embarrassment before then… and it was true that he really wouldn’t mind getting to go a little further with his boyfriend. It was a strange situation; they spoke everyday, were as close as could be, and had been for months; but at the same time they had only spent about a week physically together since they’d started going out. Well, hopefully the month-long trip together would help with that, he thought as he picked one of the mangas and laid out on his guest futon to read it.

Yu continued to sleep peacefully next to him until he got up to put the book away, roused by the movement.

“Can you hand me my crutches?” he asked.

“Hmm? What do you need? I can go get it for you.”

“Gotta pee, I don’t think you wanna help me out with that,” Yu replied with a laugh.

Yosuke cringed at the awkwardness — why did humans have to have bodily functions, anyway? — and handed Yu his crutches.

When he came back, they both laid down to bed, looking at each other across the short gap between their futons. Yosuke wanted so much to ask to share his futon. It was as though Yu were a magnet and Yosuke just some helpless bit of metal, struggling not to get pulled in. But Yu hadn’t offered, and so he settled for pushing his futon right up next to his, and holding his hand atop their blankets as they fell asleep.

* * *

Yosuke woke up early the next day, the sky painted in the rosy tones of dawn, but Yu was already gone, his futon neatly folded up. He walked down the stairs to find Yu leaning awkwardly against the counter while he attempted to prepare breakfast.

“Yu! You’re not supposed to be putting any weight on that!”

“I’m not, it’s alright.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes, pulling over a stool from the bar. “At least sit down if you insist on staying here.”

A few minutes later, breakfast was ready and Yu’s mother and father walked in, already fully dressed.

“Nice to meet you, Yosuke,” Yu’s father said as he started ladling out the miso soup Yu had prepared into four bowls.

They ate breakfast mostly in silence, letting the early hour’s serene mood wash over them. When they were done, Yosuke took the dishes back into the kitchen.

“We have quite a few errands to run and a dinner party tonight,” Yu’s mother said. “We probably won’t be back before Yosuke’s train leaves. Will you boys be all right?”

“We’ll be fine. Have a good day,” Yu replied.

  


An hour later, Yu was laying down on the couch, Yosuke straddling his lap. The show they’d originally set out to watch was completely forgotten in the background as Yosuke’s hand slid under Yu’s shirt.

“Mmmph,” he moaned into their kiss before pulling back. “Your abs are amazing, partner. How are you still so in shape?”

“I’ve been working out. With how this last year played out, I figured it would be a good idea to keep my strength up. Never know what might come up.”

Yosuke removed his hands, wrapping his arms self-consciously around himself. “I guess I need to step up. I’ve definitely lost most of what I had…”

Yu reached up to squeeze his biceps, pulling his arms gently apart to lay back at his sides. “You’re perfect as is.” He started to tug Yosuke’s shirt off, who raised his arms to let him do so, unsure what was happening but not opposed to it. Yu tossed his shirt besides the couch.

“If you knew how beautiful I find you,” Yu said in a low voice. His eyes were half-lidded as they trailed appreciatively over Yosuke’s bare chest. It was a little embarrassing to be so on display, especially when Yu pulled one of his hands to his lips and kissed it, whispering, “my darling,” and a blush covered him like a bucket of paint dumped on his head, spreading clear to his chest.

Yu pushed himself up with an interested look. “Oh, that’s interesting. Is it the praise that’s got you so red?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Or is it the pet names, _honey_?”

Wincing at how his cheeks flamed even more, Yosuke shoved Yu back down. “Stop teasing.”

“But you’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.”

Yosuke rolled his eyes and began to unbutton Yu’s shirt. Two could play at this game, and Yosuke wasn’t one to settle for second place. Yu let him, looking on curiously. When he was done, he pushed the shirt aside and bent down to kiss Yu’s lips, then began to slowly trail down his jaw, to his neck and chest. He continued making his way down, the last kiss pressed to the short, very light trail of hairs that started below Yu’s navel and disappeared beneath his pants. By that point, Yu’s breathing was more gasps than true breaths, and hearing them was more of a turn-on than he’d have expected. He should probably take a break before he got too carried away, he managed to think through the haze of arousal, before proceeding to do exactly the opposite of that, licking a smooth stripe from Yu’s navel up to his chest —

And landing hard on his ass on the floor.

“Sorry! Sorry, I need a break, I didn’t mean to push you so hard, are you ok?” On the couch, Yu had shifted to a seat, legs crossed — _crossed_? Yu never crossed his legs — and hands in fists resting in his lap. He looked profoundly ashamed, eyes cast down and cheeks red.

“You could have asked, dude,” Yosuke grumbled as he stood and rubbed his back where he’d landed. “If I go too far you can just tell me to stop, you know.”

Yu shook his head. Yosuke had never seen him look more uncomfortable. “I… I liked it, but it was embarrassing.”

Yosuke sat next to Yu, startled. Yu always seemed so at ease in every situation; that this was one he was so shy with… it was a surprise, but a very sweet one. Yosuke put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to be embarrassed with me. All this physical stuff, it’s kind of awkward, but… I trust you. You can trust me too,” he said earnestly.

“No, I know! I trust you too, it’s just—” Yu made an exasperated sound, then turned to glare at him. “You were _sitting in my lap_!”

Ooooh. The crossed legs made a bit more sense now. “Did I get you… hard?” Yosuke asked uncertainly. Next to him, Yu gave a nearly imperceptible nod, dipping his head down even further than before.

“I’m sorry. I know we agreed we weren’t going to go too fast, and I was _trying_ but then you surprised me and—”

“Hey. Hey, partner, look at me,” Yosuke said, catching Yu’s face with his hands and turning them till their foreheads bumped. “I don’t need to be having sex with you to be flattered that I turn you on. And I’m sure as hell not gonna get mad about it. That’s… kind of the expected outcome of what we’re doing here, yeah?”

“It’s _weird_.”

“Well, I mean, yeah. Kinda. But it’s also … really intimate? I like being vulnerable around you. It’s something that’s just between us, and no one else.”

Yu gave a shaky smile. “I guess when you put it that way…”

Yosuke pulled his boyfriend into a hug, savoring the feeling of bare skin for a second before letting him go. “Do we need to get anything for lunch?” he asked as he put his shirt back on, figuring this was a good place to stop for now.

“Let me check what’s in the fridge,” Yu said, hobbling over with Yosuke’s help. “Hmm… I could make some potato and bacon croquettes, but I think we’re out of Panko and eggs. I didn’t plan ahead, I was supposed to take you out to lunch. There’s this really sweet little cafe with a grey cat and the best tea…”

Yosuke knocked his shoulder gently. “We’ll go next time. Do you want me to run down to the store and grab that, then?”

Yu bit his lip. “I would go, but it’d take so long with the crutches… you don’t mind?”

“Not at all.”

  


Yosuke made short work of the grocery shopping, picking up some mochi for dessert, and on a whim, a book he saw in the checkout lane that seemed interesting. He didn’t have any more movies to watch, so it’d keep him busy on the train ride home that evening.

They cooked together; Yu sat on his stool, and Yosuke fetched ingredients and utensils when he needed them. After spending so much time together in Inaba in and outside of the TV world, they worked together effortlessly; Yosuke handing Yu a spatula before he asked for it, Yu holding a bite up for Yosuke to taste without needing to even turn away from the pan to locate him. It was as intimate in its domesticity as their kisses had been earlier, and Yosuke let himself daydream a bit while he cleaned the dishes, of spending every day like this, together in the simplest of ways. They’d already begun to make plans to study together in Tokyo so they could share an apartment next year, but Yosuke hadn’t quite taken the measure of how much he wanted this. He looked over at Yu, and somehow he managed to be as perfect with an apron tied on and a spatula in his hand as he had with his glasses and sword in the TV world.

Yu looked over at him. “Yes, sweetheart?”

Yosuke blushed and turned back to the sink while Yu chuckled.

  


After they’d eaten and Yosuke had put their dishes away, Yu pulled the book from the shopping bag.

“Oh! I’ve been meaning to read that.”

“I bought it for the train ride back. I can send it to you when I’m done if you want?”

“That’d be nice. Thanks.” Despite his words, Yu kept the book in hand, reading through the back cover summary.

He didn’t seem inclined to put it down just yet, so Yosuke suggested, “Do you want to read the first chapter together?”

“Could we?”

“Of course.”

They attempted to settle on the couch next to each other, but the book was small and with Yu’s leg propped up on the coffee table, it wasn’t easy for them to get close enough for it to be comfortable. Finally, after a few minutes of pointless adjusting, Yosuke huffed.

“Lie down.”

“How am I gonna see the book lying down?” Yu asked.

“Just, shh, move,” Yosuke replied while he pushed Yu’s shoulders down.

“Ok, ok, I’m lying down,” Yu said with a smile, putting his head on Yosuke’s lap. “Now tell me what your magical solution is.”

Yosuke put a finger to Yu’s lips, and then started reading the book out loud. Yu didn’t respond, and he glanced quickly down, wondering if this was weird, but Yu was smiling widely at him.

“Keep going,” he said, letting his eyes drift shut.

Yosuke got into the rhythm of the story after a few pages, so that he was startled when he reached the end of the first chapter without noticing any time had passed at all. He reached over to put the book down on the coffee table. Beneath him, Yu’s eyes stayed closed.

“God, your voice. The things it does to me.”

Yosuke stared. “I… my voice?”

“You could read the phone book to me and it’d probably still be hot,” Yu said as he languidly stretched out and rolled off Yosuke’s lap.

“I, uh. I can try to call you more often?”

“I think I’d like that,” Yu replied.

* * *

They spent a few more hours playing video games and chatting before it was time for Yosuke to go home. He tried not to be too sad about it, reminding himself that the next time they saw each other it would be for a full month. Despite nearly getting lost on the subway — Yu had offered to accompany him, but Yosuke had insisted he not strain himself — he managed to make it to his train on time, where he turned his phone off to keep it from discharging again, which meant it wasn’t until an hour and a half later that he saw Yu’s cryptic message.

> **Yu** I’ll consider it.

There was a picture attached, which Yosuke quickly opened, and he just about dropped his phone when it loaded. It was a photo of Yu cutting off just above his lips, neck stretched out and shirt pushed just off his shoulder. It was perfectly appropriate in terms of what it showed, barely dipping below his collarbones, and yet somehow more suggestive than anything in that nurse magazine had been.

> **Yosuke** omg yu
> 
> warn me b4 u send stuff lyk dat!!!!
> 
> **Yu** What, it’s just my neck, Yosuke. How desperate are you?

Yosuke frowned at his partner’s false obliviousness, then took advantage of being alone on the platform for a moment to quickly snap a similarly framed photo of his own. If the string of emoji Yu sent back was anything to go by, he was no less desperate, Yosuke thought with a grin as he flipped back to the picture Yu’d sent.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr at [thermopylod](https://thermopylod.tumblr.com/) and on twitter at [the same name](https://twitter.com/thermopylod)!


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